


Bringing it Together

by Hammocker



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: And I don't want to know either, Cuddling & Snuggling, Cute, Developing Relationship, Fluff, I know nothing of overwatch lore beyond the game, M/M, Pre-Slash, Sleeping Together
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-30
Updated: 2017-10-24
Packaged: 2019-01-07 09:15:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12229950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hammocker/pseuds/Hammocker
Summary: Reaper liked to keep his distance from the rest of his team, and Lúcio couldn't help but want to get closer to him because of that.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I knew I was gonna write either a Reaper/Mercy or Reaper/Lúcio fic eventually. Lúcio is just so much fun that he got first dibs. And he's my main, so y'know, coincidence.
> 
> This will probably be about seven pretty short chapters total. Nothing big, just want to write a cute getting together thing.

Lúcio liked to think he was in pretty good with his team. McCree chatted freely with him, and sometimes offered him cigarillos. Roadhog grunted at him every morning, which Lúcio chose to take as a good sign. He and Zenyatta fistbumped whenever they timed Sound Barrier and Ascension just right. Lúcio could even swear that he’d seen Hanzo smile his way a couple times. They’d all built a real relationship in the short time they had as a team.

But, like most things in life, there was a little snag. Reaper would barely even look at him. Lúcio could flash him the brightest of smiles and turn his tunes up to eleven, but Reaper just wouldn’t acknowledge his existence. No thank yous, no hellos, barely even a word out of him. The only time he said more than one word at a time was when he whined at the rest of the team over comms. 

“Why’s the cart stopped?”

“Get the payload moving.”

“Get on the point.”

Lúcio rolled his eyes each and every time. Like it was that simple. It wasn’t like Reaper ever went for objectives anyway. He was off on the sidelines, scaring the hell out of the enemy team from their flanks.

Lúcio being the way he was, though, he wasn’t gonna let Reaper’s attitude get him down. In fact, he was determined to help Reaper rethink it, at least a little. Show him that it wasn’t so bad to let loose and get that stick out of his butt before the teams got shuffled again. 

The opportunity showed itself one day in Gibraltar. Reaper was by himself at the lower side door, the one that’d bring him right to the defending team’s flank, waiting for the timer to run down. Hanzo and McCree were trying to sell Zenyatta on some bonkers new strategy while Roadhog was sprawled out near the main door. It was the perfect time for Lúcio to slip off for a moment or two. He hopped up to a wall and let his skates attach to it, riding down to where Reaper was standing.

“Hi,” he opened, giving a wave as he detached from the wall and landed in front of Reaper. “How you doing today?”

Reaper turned his head to regard Lúcio, expression as hidden as ever.

“What?” he growled.

“I said, how you doing?” Lúcio repeated. “I stutter or something?”

“I’m the harbinger of death,” Reaper rumbled. “How do you think I’m doing?”

Lúcio threw his hands up in a shrug, smiling at how serious Reaper was about a simple question. “I dunno, death-y? Asked ‘cause I wanted to hear it from you.”

Reaper stared at him for a long moment, like he was trying to decide if Lúcio was messing with him or not. And maybe he was, a little, but it was never a bad thing to know how a teammate was doing. Lúcio wanted to help if he could, after all.

“Fine,” he finally said.

“Just fine?” Lúcio echoed, cocking his head.

“Aside from everything, yeah. Just fine.”

If Lúcio’s ears weren’t failing him - and they never did - he detected a note of sarcasm in Reaper’s tone.

“Everything? What’s everything?” he asked. “The grass and the trees bothering you too?”

“Sometimes.”

Lúcio bent over to let out a laugh. He couldn’t help it with how ridiculous Reaper was being. The idea of him shotgunning a patch of grass for waving at the wrong angle was too silly not to laugh. But, it still didn’t answer his question. Reaper’s head tipped up towards him as he laughed and Lúcio was pretty sure he was being glared at.

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Lúcio pressed, throwing one hand on his hip.

“That’s for me to know.”

_And for you to find out_ , Lúcio finished in his head. Before Lúcio could open his mouth again, Athena came on speaker.

“Ten seconds remaining,” she stated, flat and lifeless.

“Get back in position,” Reaper ordered him, turning back towards the door.

Lúcio couldn’t really say no to that. The team was counting on him to heal and get them to the front lines. He hopped backwards and reattached to the wall, sliding his way back to the main room.

“Good luck, man!” he called as he left. “You got this!”

Lúcio could swear he caught Reaper glancing back at him, for just a split second before he was out of sight. He wasn’t sure if that was bad or good, but hey, at least Reaper wasn’t ignoring him anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

The following day had them attacking on Hanamura. As usual, Lúcio had to do some looking around to find Reaper. During set-up, he skated through the arcade, glancing down aisles and busting a couple crane machines open as he went. Only when he rode up to the top section did he find Reaper, squatting with one shotgun over his shoulder. Lúcio hesitated to greet him this time, struck by just how sad the picture was. Reaper was all alone, like he was so often, and Lúcio couldn't help but feel bad for him. It occurred to him that maybe Reaper was trying to pretend that he didn’t need anyone to talk to or be with, but needed it more than anything. It wouldn’t have been right to leave him like that.

“Hello, hello,” Lúcio said as he rolled on up to Reaper.

Reaper turned to look at him, a little faster than the previous day at least. He grunted what might have been a greeting, and Lúcio accepted it as such.

“And how’re we doing today?”

“I’m fine,” Reaper repeated like clockwork.

Lúcio leaned down to look him in the face, letting one of his legs stretch out behind him. “Aside from…?”

“Everything,” Reaper said as he stood up to avoid Lúcio’s eye contact.

“Come on, man, don’t give me that.” Lúcio hopped to his feet, standing on the tips of his skates to keep their faces level. “I know it’s not “everything,” it’s gotta be _some_ thing.”

“It’s none of your business.”

“So maybe it’s not, but I bet it ain’t doing you any favors, keeping everything bottled up all the time.

“You wouldn’t know,” Reaper said, putting an emphasis on each word.

“Nope, I wouldn’t, but you’re my team, you know?” Lúcio gave him a pleading smile, leaning in a little farther than he knew Reaper would have liked. “You got my back, I got yours. I know I could tell you if something was bothering me.

“We’ll be on other teams soon enough.” Reaper backed off, very clearly focused on Lúcio now. “You’ll get killed, trusting people like me.”

“I dunno about that. You’ve been pretty good at killing guys who want me dead,” Lúcio said, shrugging like it was nothing, but keeping up a gentle smile. “I don’t know what you’re hiding or why, but you can tell me if you want. I like you, you know, and that ain’t gonna change.”

Reaper flinched at that, turning to look at Lúcio’s face. He seemed maybe- perked up? Curious? Again, that ridiculous mask was keeping him out of sight and near impossible to read. If Lúcio had to make a wild guess, though, he’d have said Reaper was checking for dishonesty. The guy sure seemed to have a history dealing with that. Fortunately for him, Lúcio didn’t have a dishonest bone in his body.

“Better get back down to the front. Catch ya later.”

As Lúcio turned to leave, he heard Reaper speak one raspy word: “Bye.”

Lúcio turned back to him, giving a quizzical stare. The way Reaper said it almost sounded like he was ashamed or something. Like the idea of socializing with anyone, let alone Lúcio, was just out of the question. He was a weird dude, for sure, but Lúcio hadn’t been lying when he said he liked Reaper. He'd been nothing but a good teammate for all his antisocial habits. It took all sorts, after all. Might as well try to bring out the best in Reaper, even if he wasn’t ever gonna be all sunshine and rainbows.


	3. Chapter 3

As the cloudy dreidel of death that was Reaper’s Death Blossom cleared, Lúcio found himself with the irresistible urge to jump around. That had to be a quad kill, at least, and it had sent whoever it hadn’t killed packing. A Graviton Surge on top of a Barrage had left most of the team dead, and Lúcio was speed boosting off the point when, lo and behold, Reaper dropped in from the balcony up top. He popped off his Death Blossom and spun around the point like a top, showing their enemies a world of hurt. Seeing it It got Lúcio’s blood pumping hard.

“Whoo! That was _awesome_ ,” Lúcio whooped, hopping over to put his hand out like Reaper might just high five him.

“Yeah,” Reaper said as he righted himself. He gave Lúcio’s hand a look like it might be diseased.

“Seriously, man, great play. We make a good team!”

Reaper chuffed. “You make good bait.”

“All the same difference to me.” He gave a casual gesture to the bodies surrounding the control point. “They’re dead and gone one way or another.”

“Guess so.”

Lúcio laughed and swapped to his healing song, closing up the big guy’s wounds. Even once Reaper stopped bleeding, though, he didn’t go anywhere. He stayed around, skulking in a dark corner. Lúcio, having a job to do, stuck to Reaper.

“You’re still here?” Lúcio asked, crossing his arms and giving Reaper a raised eyebrow. “Who’re you and what’d you do with Reaper?”

“Not gonna leave my healer to die.”

 _My_ healer?

“Now what is that supposed to mean?” Lúcio asked, giving him a cock-eyed smile. “When’d I get to be just yours?”

“Do you see anyone else around?” Reaper asked, sweeping one his shotguns out toward the point. “No. That makes you my responsibility.”

It sounded an awful lot like an excuse to Lúcio. But he could always find time to push the subject when they weren’t at risk of being shot at.

“Appreciate the thought-” Lúcio said, putting a hand over his heart. “- but I can take care’a myself.”

“The rest of the team won’t see it that way.”

Lúcio tilted his head to and fro, giving Reaper a knowing smirk. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you want to hang out.”

“Keep dreaming, kid.”

On those words, Reaper glanced up before dematerializing to parts unknown. Lúcio followed his gaze and, sure enough, there was Zen, McCree, and Hog coming back to fight off the encroaching enemy team. It was almost a shame. If Soldier 76 wasn’t trying to pop his head wide open, it would have been nice to keep talking to Reaper.

He was definitely gonna take Reaper’s advice, Lúcio told himself as he switched to his speed song and hopped to join his team.


	4. Chapter 4

Reaper seemed all kinds of off the next day, even for a guy running around in a trench coat in the desert. He’d taken up one of the side exits from the diner, crouched down like he usually was. Unlike most days, though, he was fidgety and tense, even for him. He hadn’t spoken a single word to anyone and seemed to radiating waves of pure “get the hell away from me”. But, even as his team heeded that request, Lúcio wasn’t prepared to.

“Hey,” Lúcio said, skating up in front of him. He took on a gentler tone than usual. “You ready to roll?”

“Hrm,” was Reaper’s only response. He kept staring straight forward, a downgrade from their past few chats.

“I know I am,” Lúcio kept on, despite all the warning signs. “Slept real good and I am so ready.”

“Am I supposed to care?”

Lúcio wasn’t surprised at the immediate shut down, but he resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

“You okay, man?” he asked. “Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?”

“I don’t sleep.”

“Well, there’s your problem!” Lúcio laughed, crouching down bow-legged next to Reaper. “You gotta get at least some sleep, man, it’s good for you.”

“Don’t tell me what’s good for me,” Reaper snarled, finally looking back at Lúcio.

Lúcio froze, taken aback by the show of anger. Of any emotion even. Reaper had always been flat and unexpressive, not even getting mad, the one thing anyone would think he’d express regularly. Something had to be bugging him.

“No, seriously, you’re acting gr- well, grumpier than usual.”

“As I’ve been trying to tell you: where I go, death follows,” Reaper hissed. “Why shouldn’t I be?”

“I dunno, maybe you’d be happier. Bet that’d be nice for you.”

Reaper didn’t even snort. “If you suffered this curse, you’d understand.”

“I dunno,” Lúcio said, toning back his light hearted attitude. “I think even if I was a dead man walking, I’d want to have a good time, at least a little.”

“What you think doesn’t matter,” Reaper snapped, shoving his face just inches from Lúcio’s. “Can’t imagine you think much at all with that noise blasting all the time.”

Lúcio couldn’t help but deflate at that. Sure, Reaper wasn’t the nicest guy he’d ever met, but he’d never gotten personal like that

“Well, maybe it doesn’t matter,” Lúcio said, frowning for what felt like the first time in- ever.

Reaper seemed to hesitate at that. His head shifted like he was trying to get a better look at Lúcio without letting him know.

“I don’t know what you’re dealing with, you’re right,” Lúcio admitted, letting his head hang. “Doesn’t mean you gotta be like that. No wonder you’re always by yourself, anyone comes up to you and you get all bent outta shape.” 

If Reaper was listening, he didn’t make it obvious. He looked away from Lúcio and held his guns crossed against his chest.

“I just thought you’d want to have someone to talk to for once, so you’re not always alone. I know I hate feeling alone.” Lúcio sighed and stood up. “But if that’s not your thing, fine.”

Reaper kept eerily silent and grew still as a statue. Like most of what Reaper did, Lúcio had no idea what that meant. He might have been thinking or silently demanding to be left to himself. Anything was possible.

With that, Lúcio skated off on his own, resolving not to talk to Reaper anymore. He had better ways to spend his time than trying to help someone who didn’t want to be helped.


	5. Chapter 5

Everyone was bunkering down for the night. They’d all been up since early morning, giving each other hell in Lijiang Tower. China was nice enough, and he’d been set up in a pretty comfortable room. It was a little plain for his tastes, but between some bean bag chairs and a couch that was way too big for him, Lúcio found it homey enough. He could sleep in it just fine anyway.

Lúcio already had his down and was laying on his bed, messing around with some new beats. He didn’t need to be working hard on a new album just yet, but he couldn’t help it that he had to put down any new ideas he had throughout the day. Sometimes music just came to him, even in the heat of hectic firefights or when he was talking with his team. Even when that particular “team” happened to be tall, dark and grouchy, Lúcio could still take away ideas.

As he pulled off his headphones and was all set to turn on his speakers for the night, something rapped hard on the door. Lúcio sat up, and it happened again, a little gentler than before.

Lúcio hopped to his feet and over to the door. It wasn’t locked or anything, and Lúcio was half-surprised that whoever it was hadn’t already opened the door. Probably a courtesy thing that Lúcio wouldn’t have minded himself. So he opened it, throwing it wide open and finding himself face to face with nothing but a dark mass.

Lúcio blinked twice before tilting his head up. There was Reaper, towering over him and blocking most of the outside lights. He still had his mask and most of his outfit on, but the shotguns and their rounds were nowhere to be seen. Reaper kept clenching his hands into fists, like he didn’t know what to do without guns in them.

“Yes?” Lúcio said after a long while of waiting for Reaper to start.

Reaper still didn’t speak right away. Instead he reached one hand over his bicep, making like he was scratching an itch through those gloves. It was a little weird how he did it, but Lúcio couldn’t say why exactly.

“I’m sorry,” Reaper said at last, each syllable slow and methodical. “I shouldn’t have been so- harsh today.”

Lúcio blinked once and stared at Reaper. Was he serious? He had to be serious. He was always serious; that was his entire thing. But Lúcio still couldn’t believe it.

“Are you apologizing to me?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

Lúcio crossed his arms and smirked up at Reaper, somewhere between smug and honest-to-God pleased. “Who are you and what have you done with _my_ Reaper?”

Reaper shrugged, a quick, subtle movement that would have probably gone unnoticed by a lot of people. Maybe Lúcio was going crazy, but it was almost cute. Reaper in a fight was brutal and deadly. Reaper trying to apologize was something else entirely.

“I’ll go,” Reaper said, turning away from Lúcio.

In a sudden panic, Lúcio called, “Hey, wait!”

To his surprise, Reaper actually did. He looked at Lúcio and didn’t dematerialize at all.

“You, uh, you wanna come in and hang?” Lúcio asked. “I got a pretty big couch. Maybe you can get some shut-eye for once?”

Reaper wasn’t twitching anymore; instead, he was completely still as he stared at Lúcio.

“I have my own bunk,” he said.

“Well, yeah, but I could try and figure out a song to help you sleep,” Lúcio offered. “If you want.”

“I doubt it would make any difference.”

“Try me, man,” Lúcio dared, stepping out into the hallway like Reaper had made a real challenge.

Lúcio could just about see Reaper raising a brow at him, but he wasn’t rejecting the offer outright. In fact...

“Okay,” Reaper said at last.

For once in his life, Lúcio couldn’t believe his ears. He let go of the breath he was holding and hopped in place.

“Well, don’t just stand there, come on in!” he cried, stepping out of the way.

Reaper, hesitant as ever, did like he was told and stepped inside. It was a bit like watching him navigate a minefield, but he made it in. Lúcio closed the door behind himself before walking over and plopping down on the couch, sprawled out with his legs dangling a bit.

“I guess I should say I’m sorry too,” Lúcio said, shaking his head. “I shouldn’t’a riled you up when you were mad. Well, madder than usual.”

“You couldn’t have known,” Reaper said, and he was right. Reaper was a lot of things, but he wasn’t expressive.

“You mind me asking what was the matter?”

Reaper shifted uncomfortably and Lúcio half-expected him to say no off-hand. Lúcio wouldn’t have blamed him for it. But instead, he made his way over to the couch and sat as far away from Lúcio as possible. His posture was straight up and stiff as a board, his shoulders so tight that Lúcio felt his own cramping up.

“Tough day,” Reaper said. “Thinking about things.”

“What things?”

“I’m not sure you’d understand.”

“Well, I can try,” Lúcio said, stretching one arm out in what he hoped was a welcoming gesture. “You don’t have to say if you don’t want to, but you don’t gotta be afraid either”

“I know no fear,” Reaper growled deep in his throat, but it wasn’t angry. If anything, he sounded like he was indignant. Or like the statement was meant to impress.

“Alright, alright,” Lúcio laughed, tossing his head to the side. “If you just don’t-”

“Why do you ask?” Reaper asked, half-suspicious, and half, well, something else. Hopeful, maybe, but nobody would bet on that option.

“I told you I like you,” Lúcio said, for what felt like the dozenth time. “I just wonder what makes you tic, y’know?”

“Guess you’ll have to keep wondering.”

Lúcio’s eyes narrowed. It sounded like a challenge to him, like a lot of things that came out of Reaper’s mouth. The guy really wanted to be an enigma wrapped in a mystery or whatever. Lúcio didn’t have time for riddles; he had better methods that’d be nice for both of them.

“Hey, turn your back to me, would you?”

Reaper looked at him and Lúcio was getting really good at reading an expression through that mask. Right now, Reaper was definitely staring at him like he’d gone nuts.

“Why?” he asked.

“‘Cause I want to get some’a that tension out of your shoulders.”

His reasoning seemed less-than-convincing for Reaper, who kept staring at him.

“Please?” Lúcio reached over to put a hand on Reaper’s shoulder. “You really- Ow!”

The very second he laid a finger on Reaper, Reaper lashed out and grabbed his hand in a bone-crushing grip. Lúcio couldn’t do anything but grit his teeth and try to pull away with no success. Reaper was exactly as strong as he looked, but Lúcio hadn’t anticipated being on the receiving end of that so soon.

It felt like an hour before Reaper released, but it couldn’t have been more than a few seconds. He let go of Lúcio’s hand and recoiled. Then Lúcio was reading Reaper’s non-expressions again, and all he could see was absolute horror. 

Reaper was off the couch in an instant, disassociating into that weird wraith thing he did.

“Hey, hey, no, it’s okay, I’m fine!” Lúcio cried, grabbing at Reaper’s cloudy form to no avail. “I surprised you, that’s all, it’s my fault.”

Reaper didn’t seem to believe it, and he made his way to the door all the same. Everything was crumbling in front of Lúcio, every bit of- whatever it was he’d been expecting. For once he was at a loss for words.

“Don’t go, please,” Lúcio begged. “You- you won’t sleep if you do, I know it.”

He wasn’t sure why that was what came to mind, but it was. And, as soon as he said it, Reaper stopped. He reformed into himself and stood stock still by the door. Lúcio held his breath.

“I’m sorry,” he said after a few moments.

“No, don’t be. I shouldn’t’ve-”

Before Lúcio could finish, Reaper had already come back and sat down, back facing him. He was still tense, but he obviously trusted Lúcio. That was new and Lúcio didn’t dare question that.

So he put his hands over Reaper’s shoulders and started massaging. Well, massaging as best he could with thick fabric in the way. Even so, it wasn’t hard to feel that Reaper was tense and had been that way for too long.

“You gotta loosen up, dude, this is just ridiculous.” 

“I feel nothing,” was the blunt response.

“Yeah, but I do.” Lúcio tried to pinch part of Reaper’s trench coat between his fingers, finding it as rigid and unmovable as ever. “Can’t you get the coat off at least?”

“Absolutely not.”

Lúcio sighed and shook his head. “Okay, but you’re not doing yourself any favors.”

So he did what he could, but had to throw in the towel not too long after he started. Trying to get at Reaper’s muscle was like trying to punch through leather. And, well, maybe he was.

“That’s about all I can do for you,” he said, backing off.

Reaper turned forward once more and nodded to him.

“Thank you.”

“Are we on a saying thanks basis now?” Lúcio teased, elbowing Reaper.

Reaper gave a noncommittal grunt, but he didn’t make any move to leave. Lúcio chuckled and leaned back on the couch.

“Well, I dunno about you, but I’m beat.”

With that in mind, Lúcio reached over to grab the tablet sitting on the end table. He shuffled through a few songs on his “sleep” playlist before picking one that helped him. All he could do was hope that it might help Reaper too.

A soft beat came through the speakers, not quite techno, not quite jazz. Lúcio set the device down and felt his eyes drooping already. He let out a yawn and leaned back into the couch. Reaper was still and silent at first, but it only took a minute for him to shift towards Lúcio. It took another moment for him to roll his shoulders and sit back, mimicking Lúcio’s posture.

Lúcio chuckled a bit before leaning over onto Reaper, just to see what would happen. Reaper tensed immediately, which Lúcio expected. What he didn’t expect was the nothing Reaper did besides that. Lúcio glanced up to figure out what the deal was and found Reaper staring at him. The vibe Lúcio got from him was somewhere between bewilderment and- interest? Maybe? Ah, what did it matter one way or another.

Lúcio pressed his head right into Reaper’s side, his only thought being, ‘Yeah, I can sleep here.’ Reaper dwarfed him; he could take a little extra weight against him.

With another, deeper yawn, he settled against Reaper and felt his body grow heavy and warm. He was just about to slip under, when he startled awake by Reaper’s arm around his waist. He glanced up at Reaper, not surprised when he found him looking right back.

They regarded each other wordlessly, before Lúcio relaxed again, sinking against Reapers firm bicep. After a few heartbeats, he felt Reaper relax as well. 

It wasn’t a bad way to fall asleep. Not what he expected, but not bad at all.


End file.
